Insights: Catholics Advocate for Children; Pope Francis’ TED talk

Catholics Advocate for Children at Capitol

Earlier this week, close to 100 Catholic Advocacy Day delegates – representing the dioceses of California – gathered in Sacramento for prayer, legislative briefings and meetings with lawmakers to discuss bills benefiting our precious children.  Their full reports on the visit will be available soon.

“I think it’s very important for Catholics to come out and not only preach the Word of God, but to act it out,” said one participant. “Often times people who need help and support don’t have the luxury to do it themselves. It’s important to go and do our part when we can to help others.”

This year, advocates discussed seven bills related to the well being of children listed here, in addition to bills important to their local dioceses and their astonishment and disappointment that Medi-Cal funds physician-assisted suicide but not palliative care for recipients.  (This will be a budget debate next month.  See below.)

Click here for a video of the day’s events.

To all those that attended, thank you for taking the time to travel to Sacramento and being the voice for our kids. Please be sure to fill out your report form as soon as possible so we have the most accurate information.  

To those that weren’t able to attend in person, there is still time to take action! Visit the Catholic Advocacy Day web page to quickly tell your representatives you are concerned about the welfare of our children. You can also visit our legislation page or our alert page to see the status of these and other bills and ways to act. 

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Abortion Insurance Coverage Mandate for College Campuses Stalls

SB 320 (Leyva, D-Chino), the pro-abortion bill that would require public colleges and universities (CSUs and UCs) to offer chemical abortions to students on campus, is now a two-year bill and will not be heard in committee again until at least January 2018.

A huge thank you to the Catholic Legislative Network members and Public Policy Insights readers who sent letters to their elected officials asking them to oppose the bill. There is no question your efforts were taken into consideration.

SB 320 was recently amended in an attempt to lower the estimated costs to the universities and reduce the fiscal impact on the state. The amendments remove community colleges from the bill, require some data collection and reporting in 2018, and also delay implementation until the year 2020.

While the bill has been moved to the legislature’s “Inactive” file, where it should remain for the remainder of this year’s legislative session, there is still much work to be done to ensure this bill meets its demise. The California Catholic Conference will continue to monitor SB 320 as well as increase public awareness and organize efforts to defeat the bill.

 

Visit the Conference’s legislative page for the latest on this and all other bills we are tracking.  

 

Background: Navigating the California State Budget Process

In a few weeks, the Governor will be buckling down and looking to finalize a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The budget process can seem convoluted, but is extremely important since it sets the priorities for the upcoming year. Since budget negotiations will consume much of the Legislature’s energy for several weeks, and the California Catholic Conference will be looking to Catholic Legislative Network members to make critical asks on topics ranging from tax credit for teachers to providing palliative care for Medi-Cal to funding for early childhood education during the process.

On a fundamental level, the California state budget is the vehicle that provides our communities with necessary public services. However, on a societal level, the state budget reflects the values that we prioritize as Californians. 

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Cardinal Dolan Calls Pro-Abortion DNC Pledge Disturbing, Intolerant

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, reacted to the announcement by the Democratic National Committee’s chair pledging support only for pro-abortion candidates. Calling the pledge “very disturbing,” Cardinal Dolan urged party members to “challenge their leadership to recant this intolerant position.”

Cardinal Dolan’s full statement:

“The recent pledge by the Democratic National Committee chair to support only candidates who embrace the radical unrestricted abortion license is very disturbing. The Democratic Party platform already endorses abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy, even forcing taxpayers to fund it; and now the DNC says that to be a Democrat—indeed to be an American—requires supporting that extreme agenda.

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Pope Francis TED Talk: Why the only future worth building includes everyone

A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that can be you, says His Holiness Pope Francis in this unprecedented and engaging TED talk delivered from Vatican City.

In a hopeful message to people of all faiths, to those who have power as well as those who don’t, the spiritual leader provides illuminating commentary on the world as we currently find it and calls for equality, solidarity and tenderness to prevail.

Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the ‘other’ is not a statistic, or a number,” he says. “We all need each other.”

View the TED Talk here.

 

April 28, 2017
Vol. 10, No. 15

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